


The Armored's Father

by EmpressCactuar



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Behavior, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Magath is Reiner's father, gen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28452525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmpressCactuar/pseuds/EmpressCactuar
Summary: It was... truly horrifying, watching his precious son turn into such a hideous monster. A horrible reminder of the monster Reiner's kind really were. It made him doubt the love he had for his son.(AU where Reiner is Commander Magath's illegitimate son)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 35





	The Armored's Father

Theo Magath was always committed to being the best Marleyan soldier he could be. It was through his own blood, sweat and tears that he rose through the ranks from a lowly recruited soldier to a commander within the Marleyan military. 

It was almost a slap in the face, he'd thought, when he was initially put in charge of all Eldian units within the military. Why should he be forced to work with those devils? But the gravity of the task he'd been entrusted to by the military soon became apparent enough: being commander of the Eldian units also meant being the commander of the Warrior unit. As of right now, there were six warriors who held the powers of the armored, beast, cart, colossal, female, and jaw titans. They were Marley's most powerful weapons: elite Eldian soldiers entrusted with the power of the titans. Rigorously tested for loyalty, intellect, skill, marksmanship, and more. 

But all Warriors had a thirteen year lifespan, and with that in mind it was up to him to select the new candidates for the warrior program. They had many years to plan; Ksaver would have to die a year ahead due to inheriting his titan in a mishap, but the others were fresh into their terms. 

It was then that Magath presented a plan to the Marleyan military: recruit children to be warriors. They would be trained to be loyal to Marley from infancy, and would be extremely skilled in their titan powers from the start. General Calvi was on board with the idea, and with his approval the Warrior Program would become a reality. 

It was shortly before the program was to be implemented that Magath's eyes fell on some Eldian woman who worked as a records keeper for maintaining information on the Eldians in the military. Her name was Karina. And despite the fact that she was a soulless, monstrous devil in a human's body, he couldn't help but be drawn to her. 

"Excuse me. I think you dropped this." Was how it had started. The young woman had been beyond apologetic and begged to not be fired for her mistake. He forgave her for her mistake, and the smile she gave him was absolutely beautiful. About thirty minutes later he found himself having sex with the young woman on her desk. And it was amazing. 

Amazing enough that it became a regular occurrence. He made sure her job was safe, and she did the best work she could for a lowly Eldian bookkeeper. Her talents were elsewhere, and most of those talents involved her mouth. 

She'd seemed nervous one day when Magath approached her for sex. Usually they had sex in the records room; he had the authority to close it completely, and they would have their romp before returning back to work. But Karina seemed hesitant, then looked up at Magath. "We need to talk." 

"About what?" He wasn't annoyed, but Eldians didn't usually have important business to share. And if Karina wanted a relationship, she could forget it. He hadn't been in a relationship with a Marleyan woman because he was too busy with work. And he sure as hell wasn't going to be falling in love and going out with an Eldian. "What is it, Karina?" 

"I'm pregnant. And you're the father." Time seemed to grind to a halt. Magath frowned and looked very seriously at Karina. She didn't cower, but he noticed that she swallowed as a response to the intensity of the look he was giving her. "You're the only man I've been having sex with. The baby is yours." Magath backed away slowly and stared at the ground. 

His career was over. Everything he'd ever worked for. All the time he'd wasted, all the people he'd stepped on, all the people he'd sent to their deaths. All for naught, because he couldn't resist sex with some Eldian? 

Magath frowned again and put his hands on Karina's shoulders, then squeezed hard enough that Karina frowned and winced in pain. "You're going to leave here. You're never going to set foot anywhere near this building again. I'm not going to have anything to do with you." 

"But Theo! This is a baby... your baby! You helped make this child!" Magath squeezed her shoulders again, making Karina wince in pain. Magath wasn't even thinking about how hard he was squeezing her, only about the life he'd built for himself and the threat of everything he'd ever worked for crashing down around him. 

"Are you trying to get me killed? I'll be executed for treason if they found out I knocked up an Eldian woman while operating as a military commander!" Magath let go and crossed his arms. "You're going to leave. Have that devil child, or don't. I don't care. But I'd better not see you around here again." Karina seemed like she was on the verge of tears. Her hands drifted to her flat stomach. For a moment, Magath sympathized. 

He'd always wanted a family. A sweet wife and a beautiful child to come home to. He'd teach them everything they knew. Would the child in Karina's belly be one he could be proud of? 

But that thought was quickly shoved away. A devil baby, that's what she carried. It would have the blood of Ymir running through its veins. Its true form was a ghastly titan, not a noble Marleyan. He turned away from looking at her stomach so he could stop thinking about it. For all he knew, she was lying in order to manipulate him! He wouldn't put it past an Eldian vermin to do something like that. 

"How am I supposed to care for our baby if you're saying I have to leave? I earn all of my money here!" Magath felt some slight guilt at Karina's pleading. Was she being truthful? Maybe she really was carrying their child within her. All the same, she couldn't stay here anymore. His mind desperately raced trying to find a way out of this situation. He started pacing nervously, and he noticed that she kept putting her hands on her stomach as though she was guarding it. 

Fuck. Fuck! 

"I'll give you money. I'll give you some money. You're going to find another job away from the Marleyan military. I don't care if you raise it alone or with some Eldian man. Get out of my sight." Magath crossed his arms, then looked down at her menacingly. He meant to look at least a little bit intimidating to get the point across that she needed to leave. He'd inadvertently filled her with abject terror, judging by the way she was looking up at him. "Meet me by the docks tonight. I'll give you some money. Then I don't want to see you again. If we're found out, it'll be the end of me and you both." 

Karina had tears dripping out of her eyes when she nodded. A small part of him felt guilty. But not too much. 

She was a devil, after all. And the baby growing inside of her was a devil too. 

  


Magath found out that Karina hadn't been lying to him when a few months later, he'd seen her from a distance in the internment zone. And sure enough, she had her hands resting on her swollen belly while she sat on the park bench. A young man sat down next to her, but they didn't notice him. 

For a moment, a passing thought entered his head about the fact that she was carrying his child. Maybe she was pregnant with his son, someone who in another life could proudly wear the Magath name. Or maybe she had his daughter growing inside her. A strong girl who would prove that women can be military leaders just the same as men. 

But again, he chose to not think about it. Even if it was his child, it was still an Eldian. Even his Marleyan blood wouldn't be able to cleanse the sins of the child's Eldian ancestors. How many Marleyans died because of the wretched Eldians? 

He could've immediately had Karina imprisoned. Sent away to "Heaven" for her transgressions against Marley. Hell, he could've even claimed she put an evil Eldian spell on him to save himself. But he didn't. 

Who was the man Karina was with? A friend? A family member? A lover? Maybe even the man that would be his child's father figure. Magath lit himself a cigarette and carried on with his business. It was best not to dwell too much on issues that, as far as he was concerned, didn't even exist. He didn't have children. He didn't have a family. He was one of Marley's most capable leaders, and he had work to do. 

  


He'd nearly forgotten Karina completely as the years went on. He didn't think about the child she would've birthed years ago. About his own flesh and blood wandering the streets of the internment zone, where they belonged because of their Eldian lineage. He'd had a couple of romances with Marleyan women, but nothing ever seemed to pan out. 

Another year went by, and another wave of Eldian children desperate to become honorary Marleyans joined the Warrior Program. Hundreds of children dropped out immediately. It was too hard on them. Magath, personally, didn't really care. If they weren't tough enough to take the training, they weren't tough enough to earn one of Marley's titans. They weren't strong enough to earn the title of being an honorary Marleyan. Eldians were weak, Marleyans were strong. 

While he was glancing over the names of the children coming into the program, one in particular caught his eye. Reiner Braun. Which wasn't too unusual, but his age would put him right around the age his child that Karina bore would have been. He almost felt panicked, but decided to calm down until he could assess the situation. 

It was when he saw the boy for the first time that Magath really started to panic internally. The boy, Reiner, was definitely Karina's son. He was the spitting image of his mother. But when Magath got a good look at the child, he couldn't deny it. That was his son. He had the same nervous disposition that he remembered himself having when he first joined the Marleyan military so many years ago. And his eyes. When Magath looked into that child's eyes, he saw his own. 

Their resemblance wasn't enough that anyone would notice. If Magath didn't know the child's name, he would never have even known that they were related. But all the same, now he was being confronted with his past mistakes. He remembered the sex in the records office, he remembered seeing Karina being heavily pregnant, he remembered wondering if he had a son or daughter running around Liberio. 

And, as desperately as he wanted to ignore reality and make it go away like he had for all these years, he couldn't. The kid had a fire inside him. He was desperate to become an honorary Marleyan. How had Karina raised their child? Apparently well enough to tell him all about his shameful heritage. Magath had heard his son conversing with a friend of his once, a child prodigy named Bertholdt. 

"I want to prove there are good Eldians. We're not like those evil island monsters." Ah? That had been interesting. In truth, he'd never differentiated between the Eldians in the internment zones and the ones holed up on that island. They were all monsters as far as he was concerned. And despite how innocent the children could be, he knew they would grow up one day. He only had them for a few hours of training daily, they went home and were indoctrinated by their parents. 

But... it was so hard. Because the more time he spent watching Reiner working himself trying desperately to become a candidate for a titan, the more he saw a determined young boy that reminded him of himself. At one time, he'd been a weakling. Magath chewed his lower lip. His own father had beaten the weakness out of him. Karina was definitely coddling their son. Because he had the drive and the loyalty, but he was still weak. 

At the same time, Magath wasn't sure he had it in him to beat the weakness out of the child the way his father did. He wanted to scoop up Reiner when he got discouraged and tell him it was going to be okay. It wouldn't be a lie to tell Reiner he was way ahead of the overwhelming majority of children that entered the program. Of the children that were interested in becoming warriors, most of them never made it to the end. 

He so badly wanted to train his son. Reiner had poor marksmanship, and it was obvious that before training he'd never even held a gun before. The recoil from the gun the first time Reiner fired it had alarmed the poor kid, and Magath had wanted to chuckle. What a nice bonding experience it would've been to sit behind his boy, show him how to hold a gun, and watch him relax as he got better at shooting. 

Instead, his son's friend Bertholdt did his best to show Reiner how to shoot. 

Maybe it was for the best. Best he not show any of the candidates any favoritism. As far as Marley was concerned, he didn't have a child anyways. 

But then it was time to select the candidates to inherit a titan. And, as fate would have it, Reiner had proven himself worthy of earning himself a yellow armband. When he presented the band to his son, Reiner's eyes had lit up. 

"I promise, I will fulfill my duties! I'll make you and Marley proud, daddy!" Magath had done a double take. Apparently Reiner had called him commander, and he'd only imagined his son calling him dad. Why would Reiner call him dad? Magath shook his head and went on to give the next yellow band to Pieck, a smart young girl. 

Magath shed a tear when he went home. He was so fucking proud of his baby boy. Reiner was so much stronger in his young age than he'd ever been. If Magath were being honest with himself, he was a horrendous teenager. He liked talking back. He was rebellious. His father beat the weakness out of him, but it was the military that beat the rebellion out. 

Reiner, though, was a strong young boy. He was smart... not as smart as Pieck, but smart. He was getting to be a better shot... not as good as Bertholdt, but he was improving. But his loyalty to Marley? Unmatched. Magath wasn't sure he'd seen anyone so committed even amongst the ranks of Marleyan commanders. For an Eldian, that loyalty was essential. 

He wasn't supposed to, and he could've gotten in a world of trouble for doing it, but one day Magath snuck a picture of his son out of the archives in the Eldian records department and took it home. 

Having a picture of his son at home felt only natural. He made sure to encourage Reiner whenever he could without drawing suspicion. Reiner appreciated it, and it was obvious that his son looked up to him. 

Despite the coddling that Karina had done, the Warrior Program whipped Reiner into shape. To say he was proud of his son as time went on was an understatement. Finally the day came whenever it was time to select the six Eldian children that would inherit the power of the titans. Magath was confident his son would be an obvious choice to receive a titan. 

Much to Magath's distress, when he was going over all seven of the candidate's files his boy wasn't immediately obvious as being one to inherit a titan. Bertholdt could handle anything, so he was naturally tasked with the colossus. Pieck was so smart, and her strategic way of thinking suited the cart. Zeke was the best candidate for the beast titan; there was no telling what form the beast could take, and someone as flexible as Zeke was best. Marcel was quick-witted enough to handle a combat unit like jaws. And Annie's combat ability was perfect for the female titan. 

That left the armored titan. And two young boys: Porco Galliard, and Reiner Braun. The armored titan was going to be tasked as Marley's shield. It was essential that its inheritor be patient, be willing to take hits for their comrades. Reiner's diligence and patience made him the better candidate. In terms of raw scores in their classes, Porco was better due to his outshining Reiner in hand-to-hand combat and footraces. Loyalty was a definite advantage in Reiner's favor. 

Marcel kept talking highly of Reiner and kept putting down Porco, but Magath had only rolled his eyes. He'd been seeing through Eldian scheming for years. His entire life really. He was tempted to reprimand Marcel for his sloppy effort to influence the process, but he had more important things to worry about. 

The appropriate course of action was to think strictly logically. Magath chewed his lip, and made a decision nobody could ever find out about. He decided with his emotions. He took the "approved" stamp, and stamped Reiner's file. 

Magath sighed, and a smile crossed his face. How proud a father he was right now. His baby boy was going to be an honorary Marleyan. His son was going to be the next armored titan. An honorary Marleyan. Reiner took after him so much, Magath couldn't be sure that Reiner was a devil child at all. 

It wasn't like he could hug his son and tell him how proud of him he was. Instead, Magath watched anxiously when Reiner was given the syringe full of titan spinal fluid. It was... truly horrifying, watching his precious son turn into such a hideous monster. A horrible reminder of the monster Reiner's kind really were. It made him doubt the love he had for his son. Reiner had gobbled up the previous armored titan without a second thought, and the blood spatter was grotesque. 

But then that monster collapsed, and Magath saw his son emerge from the body with the telltale markings of someone who carried the power of the nine. And, as much as Magath hated to admit it, he loved his son. He knew that for sure whenever he had to fight the urge to scoop Reiner up and tell him it would all be okay. 

  


The stars twinkled overhead. A bottle of whiskey sat open on the table while Magath relaxed on the balcony of his apartment. He extinguished the cigarette butt and put it in his ashtray. He sighed to himself, then lit another cigarette. He enjoyed the smoky flavor of his cigarette, then relished the burn of the alcohol as it went down his throat. 

Four years had passed since his son was sent away to retrieve the founding titan. Was Reiner even alive anymore? It was hard to say. The mission was only supposed to last a week the way it was originally planned. But when the ships went back to Paradis to retrieve their warriors, the kids were nowhere to be found. 

How many times had he told General Calvi it was a bad idea to entrust such an important mission to children and children only? They should've sent Zeke too for guidance, at the very least. But his superior wasn't having it. He'd used the kids' leveling of nations to justify sending them to Paradis. They'd have the founder soon, Calvi had said. 

Now they had only the cart and the beast. The other four were still on that island. Were they alive? Magath wasn't sure anymore. He worried for all four of the kids. As much as he didn't want to admit it, he'd come to care for them. It was the first time he'd really gotten a chance to see how innocent the children could be. 

They... they weren't devils. Maybe it was because Marley intervened before they were corrupted by their Eldian families. But Marcel, Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner... he prayed for their safety. 

Sometimes, Magath would look at the picture of Reiner he'd stolen years ago. Reiner would be... about sixteen now? Rationally, Magath knew the young child in the picture was gone. He'd matured into a young man. What did he look like? What did his voice sound like? How had living on that dreadful island for four long years change him. 

A dreadful thought crossed his mind from time to time, and it prompted Magath to take a drink of his whiskey. Was his son even still alive? What if he was eaten by a titan on the island? What if he was found out and sacrificed? Did someone else hold the power of the armored titan now? Those thoughts kept him up at night. 

He'd really believed if there was anything he could do to help his son, it was make sure he became a warrior so that he could live in the comfort of being an honorary Marleyan. The fact that he very well may have signed Reiner's death certificate was too much to bear. Magath finished his whiskey, then stumbled inside of his home. The picture of Reiner sat undisturbed in his bedroom. 

"I'm sorry, son." Magath said to the picture. He blinked back some tears while he ran his thumb along Reiner's face. "I'm sorry. You deserved better. You never deserved the cruelty of this world. I'm sorry." 

Magath awoke to the picture shattered on the floor. He must've dropped it when he drifted off in his drunken stupor. He sighed and carefully retrieved Reiner's picture before he swept up the glass. 

At the bare minimum, he could take care of Reiner's picture. It was the least he could do to show his son love now that he was gone. 

  


He hadn't actually stayed on Paradis when Zeke and Pieck were dropped off to handle the situation at hand. Over a month later, the ship returned to Marley with Zeke, Pieck and Reiner. A woman who had eaten Marcel and become the jaw titan had been retrieved, and now Porco had his brother's power. 

To say it was jarring to see Reiner again would be an understatement to say the least. Reiner had aged so much in the time he was gone... not just because a twelve-year old left and a seventeen-year old came back. The weariness on Reiner's face showed that he'd been broken. He was severely traumatized, and sometimes he would break out into bouts of sobbing. He felt intense guilt over the death of Bertholdt, the death of Marcel, and his inability to save Annie. 

It took a long time to get more information from Reiner. He'd managed to locate the coordinate, a young man named Eren Jaeger. It was curious that he had the same last name as Zeke, but there were plenty of Brauns and Galliards and Jaegers. He didn't think too much of it. 

As a result of the failed Paradis operation, there were calls for Reiner to be stripped of his armored titan. It was stressful for Magath, hearing his commanders seriously discussing having his only child killed. But it wasn't like he could step in and stop them by admitting that Reiner was his 

But Reiner, the ever-dutiful soldier, was so dedicated to proving his loyalty to Marley that he threw himself into deadly situations over and over and over again. Many essential battles in the war were won because of Reiner's dedication in battle. Calls to have Reiner killed fell away, and eventually he received praise for the lengths he took to protect Marley and his comrades. 

Magath would never admit he got nervous every battle watching his son throw himself into harm's way. He reminded himself every time that Reiner was the armored titan and he deserved the title. 

"You did great out there today, Reiner." Reiner was absentmindedly staring out the window of the train while he sipped at his wine. Magath sighed and shook his head. Reiner had bags under his eyes, and he was obviously exhausted. In his time in the military, Magath had seen many soldiers be worn down to the nub. Broken inside. Dead tired. It almost always came from years and years of service. Bitter old commanders who lived through atrocity after atrocity. 

Magath felt his stomach turn when he thought about it. The sweet, albeit weak, boy that he'd met years ago was long gone. Reiner was exhausted. Broken. Magath had to remind himself that despite his young age Reiner had been an official member of the military for over a decade. And god knows what he saw on that island... 

His own father was cruel. Magath cringed remembering how his father so willingly inflicted pain upon him. But oh, what he would do to ease Reiner's pain. Make him smile again. 

"Thanks." It was after a tense silence that Reiner mumbled the word. In his youth, Reiner eagerly accepted praise. Now he didn't even care. Magath resisted the urge to lean over the table and apologize to Reiner for setting him up for such a hard life. 

Instead, he let Reiner be alone with his thoughts. Pieck and Porco warmly greeted him when he sat with them. Reiner was still vacantly staring out the window after he finished dinner with the other warriors. 

  


It had been constant, unmitigated chaos since the attack in Liberio. Reiner was filled with a bloodthirsty rage that Magath had never seen before after little Udo and Zofia were killed. Falco and Gabi's bodies were never found, and Reiner was convinced the two of them were on Paradis. 

Reiner was in a determined state of mind whenever the attack on Paradis was planned. Unfortunately, things seemed to go sideways quickly. Porco was killed and eaten by a mindless titan that ultimately wound up being little Falco. Colt, the next beast titan, was killed. Falco had been absolutely heartbroken. Magath and Pieck managed to flee Shinganshina and found themselves travelling with two Paradisan soldiers. 

That horrifying monster Eren Jaeger activated the rumbling and was set on destroying all of humanity. Watching the walls collapse was probably the single scariest thing that Magath had ever had the misfortune of seeing. There was anxiety, chaos, fear. 

In the end, they teamed up with a ragtag group of soldiers from Paradis that had apparently known Eren Jaeger. Annie was found, as was Reiner. Magath had rushed to Reiner and pulled him into a hug whenever they were reunited. The fucking world was ending, if he wanted to give his son a hug, he was giving him a goddamned hug. Reiner let out a tiny whine and returned the hug, and Magath wondered how long it had been since his boy felt genuine affection. 

It destroyed Magath to watch his son be beaten by that Paradisan soldier at dinner. He'd actually drawn his switchblade and was ready to hurt that boy, named Jean apparently, until Pieck stopped him. He swallowed his rage, and after Reiner had recovered somewhat he had felt some relief. 

"Reiner. Come talk with me." Magath extended a hand to his son and gestured with his head to follow him. Reiner raised a brow, then stood and began to follow him. 

"Where do you think you're going? How do we know you two aren't going to betray us?" There was animosity in Jean's voice. Annie rolled her eyes and shook her head. 

"The hell are they gonna do? Kill us? Eren's already trying to do that and Miss Mikasa there doesn't want us to kill him." Mikasa took offense at Annie's words, but said nothing. Magath shot a glare at Jean, then led Reiner away from the campfire. 

"Is everything okay, commander?" Reiner asked, despite knowing that everything was most certainly not okay and that millions of innocent people were going to be killed. Magath shook his head and sat on the ground, then pat the ground next to him in a gesture for Reiner to sit with him. Reiner sat down next to Magath and crossed his legs. 

"All of this is happening because we persecuted Eldians. We let ourselves be consumed with hate." Magath breathed deeply, then looked over with remorseful eyes at Reiner. "I'm sorry, Reiner. You never deserved the cruelty you endured. You shouldn't have been a weapon, especially not so young. If you... and Marcel, Bertholdt, Annie, Pieck and Porco could've just been normal, happy kids... I would have been happy with that." 

"It's okay, commander. I... I don't know if that's true, though. Eren has always had bloodlust... it just shifted from titans to humanity. I never would've thought it could come to this. I feel responsible, because I didn't want to kill him years ago. He was my friend. I didn't want to kill my friend." Reiner laughed bitterly and ran a hand through his hair while some tears dripped out. "I should've, god damn it. He took away my best friend. Bertholdt is gone because of me." 

A silence filled the air. They were both ridiculously stressed and exhausted. Where did they go from here? The entire planet was going to be killed. So many innocents snuffed out for no reason. Magath chewed his lower lip. 

"I wasn't even supposed to be a warrior. I know Porco was supposed to be the armored over me because Marcel intervened... all this mess is my fucking fault." Magath frowned and glanced over at Reiner, who smacked his balled fist against the ground. He shook his head and met Reiner's eyes. 

"You weren't picked to become the armored titan because of Marcel. We saw right through his attempts to influence the military. Kids aren't as smart as they think they are. That includes those two at the campfire." Magath closed his eyes and let his mind wander. That sweet, blond boy crossed his mind. "You know, Reiner... I have a son." 

"Really?" That was surprising. Commander Magath never said anything even suggesting he had a family. Reiner looked seriously at his commander, who had crossed his arms and stared at the ground. "I'm so proud of him. Of all his accomplishments. I want to tell him I love him..." Reiner reached a hand over and squeezed Magath's shoulder. Magath glanced to the side and met Reiner's eyes. "Would you like to see a picture of him?" 

"Hmm? Okay..." Reiner was willing to let Commander Magath reminisce. Magath opened a pocket inside his uniform jacket and produced a folded picture. He opened it and smiled fondly at it, then handed it over to Reiner. Reiner glanced at the picture and frowned. "This is a picture of me as a child...?" 

"Reiner... I never told you. About a year before you were born, I had an affair with a young blonde woman who worked in Eldian records. Her name was Karina Braun. Eventually she fell pregnant with my child." Magath paused, then met Reiner's eyes. "Then you were born." 

"You're... my father?" Reiner seemed confused. Like he was trying to process what was being told to him. "I..." 

"Reiner. I know the world is ending. I just... I had to tell you. Because I wanted to tell you I love you. And I'm so proud of you." Reiner's lip started trembling, and he brought up a hand to wipe at his eyes. Magath scooted closer to his son, then pulled him into a hug. "I love you, Reiner. My son." 

"You're my dad..." Reiner swallowed, then closed his eyes. "You... you were watching over me when I was a child, weren't you? I noticed sometimes I got extra attention. Porco said it was because I was a failure and needed extra help." 

"No, Reiner. It's because I wanted to spend time with my son. And that was the only way I could." Magath breathed heavily and found himself wiping at his eyes alongside his son. "I wish... you could've had a normal life. I don't know if I would've wanted a relationship with Karina, but I wish I could've had a hand in raising you. You've grown up to be a model Marleyan. I'm so proud of you." 

"Can I... can I call you dad?" Reiner asked nervously. Magath nodded slowly, then accepted the hug when Reiner scooted in. Reiner was quiet, Magath understood. He'd missed out on so much of his son's life. If Reiner wanted comfort, if he wanted his father's love, he could have it. 

The world was ending. Most likely, they would both be dead in a couple of days, tops. Maybe even tomorrow. Magath pushed those thoughts out of his mind. 

Instead, he held his son close and made sure Reiner felt the love he deserved so much. 


End file.
